Missing cats mystery

A POOLE woman has said she “fears the worst” for her missing pet after five cats disappeared from the same road, and another turned up wrapped in a snare.

Jane Hinks’ award-winning pedigree Yanni went missing last month.

The desperate mum of three, of Boldre Close, Upper Parkstone, searched the whole neighbourhood, posting leaflets and posters in a bid to track down her beloved pet.

When she door-knocked her neighbours she was horrified to learn that five cats had gone missing from her close in as many weeks.

Then, when another neighbour to the rear of her property showed her a snare she had found wrapped around her own pet, Jane feared a cat hater may be at work.

“He’s never been away for more than a few hours before,” she said. “We’re absolutely devastated.”

“He’s rather beautiful so initially I thought he’d been stolen, although he’s very timid and won’t come to people, but when I heard about the others it seemed a bit more ominous.

“It’s a really really horrible thought what could have happened to him. There are some wicked people in the world.”

The incident follows the horrific knife attack on two cats in Millfield, Creekmoor, Poole, back in October, where one pet was almost cut in half, then someone apparently tried to cut the tail off another cat the following day.

A Dorset Police spokesman said: “The matter has been passed on to a local safer neighbourhood officer who is making enquiries.

“It is not being recorded as theft at this time, but it does seem unlikely that so many cats would go missing from such a small area in a short time.

“We would be keen to speak to anyone with any information, or whose cat has gone missing so we can find out what’s actually happened to these cats.”

NASC

The National Anti Snaring Campaign is the UK’s leading animal welfare organisation campaigning against the sale and manufacture of animal snares. We also aim to increase public awareness of the cruelty of snares.